A Dance With Dragons by George R.R. Martin

Cover art for the fifth novel in George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series was recently released. There is no official date on when A Dance With Dragaons will hit bookshelves, but it’s rumoured for this coming Fall.

I may have my first novel published by then — perhaps even my first entire series — before Martin gets around to writing his last three in A Song of Ice and Fire 🙂 It is supposed to end at seven books, but who knows, it could continue on like Jordan’s Wheel of Time. Regardless, he’s still my favorite fantasy author to date.

I seriously doubt he will live to finish this series. One thing to remember is that this 5th book, is actually only the fourth book. The fourth book was due in about 2002, but was running late and getting too big, so it was broken up into two books..one covering the story of the North and one the South. This material is still material that is now about 6 or 7 years late.

reading his website blog, GRRM probably just has too many interests and endeavors to truly concentrate on this like he did when he was younger. the first 3 books came out about every 2 years, but now, we are looking at 8 maybe 9 years to get the entire fourth book out (and I am including the fourth and fifth book together as one here).

The fourth book also had a huge drop in quality, at least from my perspective, so whereas back in the early 2000’s, I was so enamored with his writing, now, it is just a if it is released, I will pick it up, but I no longer am very interested in it.

Goof — I didn’t realize the fourth book’s planned release was that long ago: 2002. I agree with you. I’m almost done with the 4th book now, and overall, nothing really significant has happened. It just slowly plods along, but I don’t feel it really goes anywhere. I can’t see either how some of these minor characters will have a major impact on the story in the long run. It’ll be interesting to see if Martin ever finishes the series, and if so, how he ties together all the loose storylines.

I can understand that George doesn’t want to release the books until they are perfect. I am definitely eager to finish reading the series, but I am willing to wait for a quality piece of writing. I disagree with most of you on the strength of the fourth book. I recently read the fourth and wouldn’t call many of the characters minor. This book introduces Dorne and the Iron Islands to the fray..which will most likely be how Daenerys gets to Westeros. It covers the happens in the south and reveals many details about Cersei, Littlefinger, and Jaime. Don’t you want to know what happens to Arya or the Mountain that Rides? There are so may characters and so many subtle details that if you didn’t like this book I suggest you give it another chance. Try reading Tuf Voyaging, Nightflyers, or Fever Dream while you are waiting for the next book. It’s going to be the best one yet and well worth the wait.

Mike, you make some good points. I do like the Greyjoy story line. It adds more complexity and makes it more difficult to predict who will come out on top. The Greyjoy’s remind me of the “Vikings” in history, which is probably why I like them. I do like Arya; her story has always been interesting. Cersei needed a perspective just to reinforce my disgust with her. I could have done without Brienne of Tarth. I didn’t feel her perspective added much, except maybe to gain a better understanding of Jaime. There are some other characters in Feast for Crows that I didn’t find particularly engaging. Overall, Martin’s writing is strong as always, and I’m sure he has some over-arching plan that will tie everything together. Let’s hope so at least. Can’ wait for a Dance With Dragons.

I have read Martin books for a long time started reading a game of thrones when it first came out loved it but in comparison the feast for crows was a let down been his fan for years. I have read many of his other books as well but this wait and the pushing back of release dates is really a bit much. Taking 13 years so far to get to 4 books ( yes the forth was split ) is just a very long time to finish the best of his work if you look at his home page he has so much going on but these books are what has made him as a author it would seem that these books would be his main focus in his career. For us the fans that have waited by him for so long to see this epic story through to the end to make us wait this long seems to me a big mistake.

Paul, I feel like Martin has lost a lot of his luster as an author because he has stretched out the series for so long. I’m afraid readers have moved on to other authors. If A Dance with Dragons is as ho-hum as A Feast for Crows, I’m not sure Martin will ever be able to re-capture the magic he once had in readers’ minds.

It is now 2 years since his last ‘official’ update. I absolutely love the books so far released, but I don’t think the series will ever be finished. I believe Martin has totally lost interest in this storyline and he is leaving his fans out in the dark. Sure, he has all these other projects that he is working on, and I’m sure it is a great accomplishment for him. But I do feel that an author who takes on a series like this should make a commitment to the fans of the series to complete it in a timely manner. Jordan worked like crazy after he became ill to make sure that his fans will be able to finish the series he began. I did read the whole series, not a huge fan, but very thankful that he cared enough to see it to completion. Mr. Martin, please make a commitment to finish the book for the fans, or let us know that you have no interest in finishing it and let it go, don’t keep putting us off forever.

Grumpy, I do think Martin should finish the series and hope he does so. I think any author who begins a series should always see it through to completion. Really, that goes for anyone and anything in life. If you start something, I believe there should be a commitment to complete it, whatever it might be.

I agree that Martin is stretched to thin to really work on a series with such complexity like this one. The way i see it, even if he manages to get the next book out by next fall, i seriously doubt that he will be able to complete all 7 planned books in the series before he dies, especially if they take this long to do each one. i would rather he change his original plan and simply find a way to wrap up the character’s lives in the book after dance with dragons and get some sort of closure, then continue to hope (in vain) that he is able to finish the series the way he originally planned. Also, i think that the addition of so many new characters just goes to show that Martin has lost interest in his characters over the years (understandable, i don’t care about them nearly as much so many years later either) and i think that his lack of passion for the characters and world that he created here are a big part of the reason why it’s taken so long for him to complete this book

It does seem like he’s lost passion in the series, which is a shame. And you’re right, if he doesn’t have a passion for it any longer, then the chances of it actually being completed are not very good.

It’s a great serries – the realism, the fact that any character can die, no one is truly a good or a bad person. BUT the first 3 books came out in 1996, 1998 then 2000. The 4th was 2005 and now its 2010 and we still don’t have the next book….its a joke.
All the while new books either written by him or compiled by martin have come out. He has games, a HBO series – that he needs to go and watch them film etc etc – he is killing the golden goose and insulting his fans by not finishing the series.

Mazon, I know a lot fans share your sentiment. I know one of the reasons — besides all the stuff you mentioned — that it takes Martin a lot longer to finish a book is because (according to some) he is a freewriter instead of an outliner. He doesn’t plan everything out before he starts, and he allows the story to evolve as he goes along. So he may re-write the same chapter five different times, for example, and trash the previous four versions and start from scratch. It’s a labor intensive process, and given the complexity of his series, it’s no telling how long it will take him to complete.

Well, Looked on Amazon.com said available in the spring of 11 and a different site said fall of 10. Also heard rumors of a video game of the series is comming out. Like mazon said he is killing the golden goose before it hatches. Love his books love alot of the work he has done but I might just have to move on.

I agree. I bet it will be next year at the earliest before it comes out. I’ve really been reading a lot of non-fiction history lately. I haven’t read a fantasy novel in a while. I need to read some authors like Steven Erikson and Patrick Rothfuss. I understand they are both pretty good.

Wow! I have waited four years for the second half of A Feast for Crows only to learn that it will, or may, be published this Fall or sometime next year. Grief! I am still waiting to find out what the Imp is doing, what Anya is doing in her blindness, and more. How long, Oh, Martin, how long?

Apparently the publisher is pushing him to sell the IP and allow the series to be finished by a new author. The book’s status from the publisher has been changed from “work in progress” to “suspended” as martin hasn’t made any progress on the book in over two years (despite some contrary claims on his blog).